Judeo-Christian spirit and historical influence

¶ … organized religion today has become an issue of controversy. Human intelligence and technology have developed to the point where it is difficult to find a spiritual foothold. This is perhaps why materialism has dominated the earlier part of the 20th century in the Western world. It is however interesting that there seems to be a return to spirituality during the first part of the 21st century. People have taken spiritual refuge in everything from the strangest new-age religions to the most traditional forms of Christianity. When considering the question of how Christianity particularly has changed then, there are many similarities and also differences between Christianity today and its earlier counterpart.

Firstly, the question of current and earlier Christianity is multi-faceted. Christianity as a religion, as I see it, has experienced several stages. The first stage occurred right after the death and resurrection of Christ. There was an extreme rise in enthusiasm for Christ and his message. This however angered the establishment and they were of course persecuted.

I find it interesting that during later centuries, the roles were reversed. Christianity has become the establishment attempting to flush away everything else. This is clear in events such as the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem witch trials and many other events that display the intolerance of Christianity to other ways of life, thinking and believing.

So firstly I believe there is a great difference between the earliest manifestations of Christianity grounded in suffering, and the subsequent centuries, where Christianity became the basis of Western life. Christ taught love and tolerance. These were practiced by the earliest Christians, but became further and further from Christian practice as time went on and the promise of Christ's return did not happen.

Secondly, the earliest Christians can be compared to the Christian world today. There are many differences, but also many similarities. As we evolved as human beings over the century, there seems to be greater tolerance for all people. This is closer to the love preached by the gospels than the earlier practices such as the Crusades. Few Christians today would go out and kill people in the name of God. Many modern churches have become enthusiastic about Christ and his message again, and some are even performing miracles and prophecies in his name. How authentic these are is debatable, but I'm sure many during the early years of Christianity wondered how true all the stories could be. The point is that there seems to be a return to Christian spirituality as it was meant to be.

On the other hand, there are frightening instances of intolerance. President Bush for example professes to be a Christian and is willing to murder any number of innocent people, including children, for his "Christian" cause. This sadly reminds me of the intolerance at the hands of which so innocent people suffered only because they lived differently than others. This suffering occurs in the name of the very religion for which the early Christians suffered torture and death.

It is difficult for me to say if it's Christianity itself that changed or remained the same. Doubtlessly both is true. Christianity is in many ways closer to the early church today than ever before. Yet it also is much too close for comfort to the fundamentalist beliefs that spawned the Inquisition. So perhaps we should say it's human nature that stayed the same.